Chapter Six

The Presidency

Mr. Ognibene

AP GovernmentOR

Key Questions for Presidency Chapter• How did the framers view executive power?• What is the current state of executive

power?• How has the presidency changed since

1789?• How is the Executive Branch organized?• How is the character of the President related

to the accomplishments of various presidents?

• What FORMAL and INFORMAL powers does the president possess?

Electoral College

• Almost all states use a winner-take-all system (Nebraska 5 and Maine 4 can split their votes)

• If no candidate won a majority, the House would decide the election

• The Electoral College ultimately worked differently than expected, because the Founders did not anticipate the role of political parties

Map 12.1: Electoral Votes per State

As of 10/25/12 Obama 294  Romney 244

The First Presidents

• The office was legitimated by men active in independence and Founding politics

• Minimal activism of early government contributed to lessening the fear of the presidency

• Relations with Congress were reserved: few vetoes; no advice from Congress to the president

Powers of the President

• Potential for power found in ambiguous clauses of the Constitution—e.g., power as commander in chief, duty to “take care that laws be faithfully executed” (executive power)

• The Military Commisions Act of 2006• Part 2• CNN’s view of Presidential Signing Statements• Fox News Point of View on Signing Statements• Bill O’Reilly responds!• Greatest source of power lies in politics and

public opinion

The Power to Persuade

• Presidents try to transform popularity into congressional support for their programs

• Presidential coattails have had a declining effect for years

• Popularity is affected by factors beyond anyone’s control – consider Bush’s approval ratings following the September 11th attacks

Figure 14.2: Presidential Popularity

Thomas E.Cronin, The State of the Presidency (Boston: Little, Brown, 1975), 110-111. Copyright © 1975 by Little, Brown and Company, Inc. Reprinted by permission. Updated with Gallup poll data, 1976-2004. Reprinted by permission of the

Gallup Poll News Service.

1. What happens to a president’s popularity over time? Why?

2. How might this trend affect a president’s power and strategy?

Figure 14.2: Presidential Popularity

Thomas E.Cronin, The State of the Presidency (Boston: Little, Brown, 1975), 110-111. Copyright © 1975 by Little, Brown and Company, Inc. Reprinted by permission. Updated with Gallup poll data, 1976-2004. Reprinted by permission of the

Gallup Poll News Service.

Figure 14.3: Presidential Victories on Votes in Congress, 1953-2002

Discussion Questions for Theme A1. The text concludes that presidential

authority began to increase as a result of national crises. Why didn’t presidential power increase after the nation’s first three wars (War of 1812, the Mexican American War, and the Spanish-American War)? Were the wars different or the nation different?

2. If the expansion of presidential power occurred because of political events and has been fostered by public opinion, under what circumstances might presidential power begin to be limited? Will the historical in favor of expanding presidential power be reveresed?

3. How did George W. Bush expand executive power? Is the new powers he claims constitutional? Is it a good thing that President Bush has expanded the executive’s power?

4. The text suggests that Congress generally hesitates to challenge a popular president. Under what circumstances might this not hold true? How can you explain the Clinton impeachment, given the president’s successful re-election campaign and strong approval ratings? How does that compare to the Democrats support of President Bush’s decision to go to war with Iraq?

White House Office• Rule of propinquity: power is wielded by

people who are in the room when a decision is made

• Pyramid structure: most assistants report through hierarchy to chief of staff, who then reports to president– Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Clinton

(late in his administration)

THEME B: THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF THE PRESIDENCY

White House Office

• Circular structure: cabinet secretaries and assistants report directly to the president– Carter (early in his administration)

• Ad hoc structure: task forces, committees, and informal groups deal directly with president– Clinton (early in his administration)

Figure 14.1: Growth of the White House Staff, 1945-2002

Harold W. Stanley and Richard G. Niemi, Vital Statistics on American Politics, 2003-2004 (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2003), 254-255.

Figure 12.1: Growth of the White House Office, 1935-1985

The Importance and Power of White House Staff: A Case Study

Karl Rove

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are needed to see this picture.

The Cabinet

• Not explicitly mentioned in Constitution• Presidents have many more appointments

to make than do prime ministers, due to competition created by the separation of power

• Presidential control over departments remains uncertain—secretaries become advocates for their departments

Table 14.1: The Cabinet Departments

1. What are the responsibilities of each cabinet department?

2. Which departments are most important? Why?

Presidential Character

• Kennedy: bold, articulate, amusing leader; improviser who bypassed traditional lines of authority

• Nixon: expertise in foreign policy; disliked personal confrontation; tried to centralize power in the White House

Presidential Character

• Reagan: set policy priorities and then gave staff wide latitude; leader of public opinion

• Clinton: good communicator; pursued liberal/centrist policies

• George W. Bush: tightly run White House; agenda became dominated by foreign affairs following the September 11th attacks

The Veto Power

• Veto message sent within ten days of the bill’s passage

• Pocket veto (only before Congress adjourns at the end of its second session)

• Congress rarely overrides vetoes • Commentary on Bush’s first veto and Congress’s

failure to overide.

• President does not hold line-item veto power

Table 12.5: Presidential Vetoes, 1789-2000

The President’s Program

• Resources in developing a program include interest groups, aides and campaign advisers, federal departments and agencies, and various specialists

• Constraints include public and congressional reactions, limited time and attention, and unexpected crises

Discussion Questions for Theme B1. Why has the president’s staff grown? Many presidents enter office with a

commitment to cutting the size of their staff. Why isn’t this goal achieved? Why do presidents rely more on the White House staff than on the various other offices in the Executive Office of the President? Why don’t presidents rely on their cabinets?

2. The text describes the connections between president’s character and their staffing arrangements. But why would a president’s personality have much to do with the staffing method (circular, pyramidal or ad hoc)? Why must the president rely on staff to devise policy when the executive branch bureaucracy already exists for this purpose?

3. Presidents frequently sign legislation with which they disagree. Why doesn’t the president simply veto such laws, since Congress seldom manages to override a veto? What kinds of veto strategies would you recommend to a president whose party controlled Congress? Or whose party was in the minority in Congress?

4. Should the president be grated absolute executive privilege? Have the courts placed too many constraints on the White House staff, in denying them confidentiality in so many of their communications?

Presidential Transition• Only fifteen of forty-four presidents have

served two full terms (Barak Obama will be the 16th if he finishes his full 2nd term)

• Eight vice presidents have taken office upon the president’s death

THEME C: PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION

The Vice President

• Prior to 2000, only five vice presidents won the presidency in an election without having first entered the office as a result of their president’s death

• The vice president presides over Senate and votes in case of tie

The 25th Amendment (1967)

• Allows vice president to serve as acting president if president is disabled

• Illness is decided by president, by vice president and cabinet, or by two-thirds vote of Congress

• The new vice president must be confirmed by a majority vote of both houses

This is a list of the current presidential line of succession, as specified by the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 (3

U.S.C. § 19).# Office Officer1 Vice President and President of the Senate Dick Cheney2 Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi3 President pro tempore of the Senate Robert C. Byrd4 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice5 Secretary of the Treasury Henry M. Paulson, Jr.6 Secretary of Defense Robert Gates7 Attorney General Alberto Gonzales8 Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne9 Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns-- Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez

(ineligible; not a natural-born citizen)†-- Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao

(ineligible; not a natural-born citizen)†10 Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt11 Secretary of Housing and Urban Dev. Alphonso Jackson12 Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters13 Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman14 Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings15 Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson16 Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff ††h

Impeachment

• Indictment by the House, conviction by the Senate

• Presidential examples: Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon (pre-empted by resignation), Bill Clinton

• VIDEO: Summary of Clinton Impeachment

• Neither Johnson nor Clinton was convicted by the Senate

Constraints on the President

• Both the president and the Congress are more constrained today due to:– Complexity of issues– Scrutiny of the media– Greater number and power of interest groups

Questions 1. What does the peaceful and orderly transfer of power from

one president to the next have to do with presidential legitimacy?

2. What factors have precluded vice presidents from succeeding “their” presidents in office? Recent vice presidents who have failed in this effort include Nixon 1960, Humphrey 1968, Ford 1976, Gore 2000. The two who have recently succeeded are LBJ 1964 and Bush Sr. 1992.

3. Unless a president resigns, the chief executive can be politically removed only through impeachment proceedings. These proceedings are extremely involved and are undertaken only in extraordinary circumstances. Is it a strength or a weakness of the presidential system that its chief executive is so difficult to remove? Does this provide the system with greater stability or does it increase the likelihood of corruption in the executive branch? Answer your question in light of the Clinton impeachment proceedings and President Bush’s conduct of the Iraq War.

Wrap Up for the Presidency

• What are the three most important lessons you learned in this chapter? Which is the most important? Why?

• Who will win the presidency in 12 days?

• Vocab Time